So here I sit at my computer at 1:13 on New Years Day. I am waiting up for little man to finally settle in. We got back from the Rackleys a little after midnight , and Evan is not sure when he wants to go back to sleep! He starts and then fireworks or something startles him. I'll tell ya… You know you are a parent when right after the ball drops, and you give your honey the first kiss of the year, it's time to call it a night! But it is different when you have to get the little ones settled in their own home and it's after midnight !

Unfortunately for Mandy, she was not able to enjoy in all of the festivities that the rest of us did. She worked extra hours the night before. She went into work at 3PM and stayed til regular time. So after sixteen hours up, we went to church and Sunday school, and then we came home for naptime, then proceeded over to the Rackleys to partake in the New Year's celebrating. We had steak on the grill, EXCELLENT! Jay is the Grillmaster let me tell you! Had dinner, then played many a game and then we were all wiped out by the time the ball dropped!

I can recollect on many New Years that have passed. Last year was Iowa and the year before… I recall celebrating the Millennium at Have a Nice Day Café in Raleigh …. And many years of just kicking back and either drinking and playing or who knows what… the new gig is to just get together and go from there… pig out and play games!

CHRISTMAS 06

We spent a lot of time on the road the beginning of December. We made our trip to Colorado and Iowa , but it got a little cut short. Mandy pinched a nerve in her back from the trip, and we had to head home pronto… It was a rough trip, but I am glad we made it back and she was able to get things taken care of… she is going to have to fight through the pain, but we were able to get her the medication needed.

So the plan was to visit family in the Midwest and go to Jen and James' wedding. We wouldn't really have Christmas, but would still be there for the Season. And as for White Christmas, when we were there, there was a bit of snow, but it was mostly COLD!!

On Christmas day, we traveled to New Bern , NC to visit my Dad and family. We caravanned with the Rackleys and our stepbrothers were able to come down to NC and we were all there to celebrate and before leaving had some birthday cake to celebrate Emily's 14 th … all and all it was a nice time. We had a day of fellowship with family and played with the kids and it was all good. We planned on having portraits of the family taken, but since that didn't happen professionally, we just digitalled it up.

So I will have to link a few pics. Actually, I really need to hit up Kodak and put a lot of pics online. I put a few on my last update, but if I can add some to the Kodak gallery that would be nice! It will have to be slowly added to the updating process. I like that I can keep up with things at the moment, I just hope I can continue. Mandy is able to hit up LJ more at her work, and I catch updates from email and such when I go to the Rackleys.

So I have taken up a nice chunk of time typing here on Word. I hope everyone had a great and safe Christmas and New Years. Soon it will be time to put up the decorations and start to get back into the normal swing of things to begin the year. Take care all and I hope to keep in touch like I have been.

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And I hope I didn't miss anything, I like to run at the mind but seem to leave a few things out, so if that is the case, I'll just add it in! We plan to spend an afternoon with Kari in a day or so, so that she can celebrate a belated Christmas and we can see her again… can't wait to see her… and some day it will be family only… (don't want to spoil the time we will have together, but soon we will have our time with her and can make up for lost time)